War on Hamas at crucial juncture

The Pentagon seldom discloses movements of its nuclear submarines, which makes the announcement by the US military that a guided missile sub has arrived in the Middle East so significant. The nuclear-powered Ohio-class submarine, which joins two aircraft battle groups already in the eastern Mediterranean, will be a powerful deterrent to regional adversaries such as Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah and Yemen as the US seeks to contain the Hamas-Israel war.

A picture posted by US Central Command showed the vessel in the Suez Canal northeast of Cairo. Whether it is carrying nuclear weapons is not known. Washington never discloses such information. But it has the capability to do so. And even without nuclear weapons its armoury includes Trident II missiles that would add to the potency of any US response in the crisis. As Joe Biden warned potential adversaries when he rushed to Israel after Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Jewish civilians, “don’t do it, don’t do it”.

The US will not allow Iran’s ayatollahs to achieve their goal of annihilating the Jewish state. But they will try. On Monday night, Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades fired 16 rockets at northern Israel from Lebanon.

As Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza intensifies and the Hamas-run health ministry says the death toll has passed 10,000, including many children, Israel is losing the propaganda war. Much world opinion has shifted from horror over the initial terrorist massacre to anger over what is being seen as Israel’s disproportionate response. The Israel Defence Forces must stay the course and complete their vital encirclement of Gaza City. But, as well as looking to the post-war future for Palestinians, Israel needs to do better in minimising civilian casualties. In an effort to reduce casualties among Gazan civilians, the US is providing Israel with $US320m ($498m) worth of precision-guided bombs, The Wall Street Journal reports. That should help. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rightly has rejected pleas for a ceasefire – Israel must complete its mission to destroy Hamas and its arsenals. In a brutal conflict, the IDF is making good progress.

On Monday, Mr Netanyahu pledged that Israel would take control of “overall security” of besieged Gaza after the war. That was welcome. It shows the Israeli government is thinking seriously about Gaza’s post-war future, and under the right circumstances is willing to look towards a two-state solution for the Palestinian people, without Hamas.

As German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock says, Hamas terrorists have brought infinite suffering to Israel and to the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza and must not be allowed to determine the fate of the people in the Gaza Strip.